


Definitely Not A Problem

by VKL42



Category: If I Had Wings (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 03:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5231411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VKL42/pseuds/VKL42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex and Brad finally, <i>finally</i> get their act together and figure out they both want to kiss each other senseless. </p>
<p>Or, the one where I watched If I Had Wings and will now forever stew in my disappointment that Alex and Brad weren't an actual thing in the film. So I had to write this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Definitely Not A Problem

Running with Brad was like nothing he had ever experienced before. Even now, after a month or so running with him, Alex was struck by just how amazing it felt when he got to run with Brad. He felt free; he felt like he could take off and fly. He'd never been able to run this fast with his father guiding him. This was the best feeling in the world. Every morning, every practice, every time they got to run together, it felt like coming home.

Alex also had a growing, gnawing suspicion, however, that it wasn't just the running that made him look forward to their time together. (That it wasn't just being on the team that made him smile involuntarily every time he thought about cross country practice).

Which is why one morning, after finishing up their run, Alex has the nerve to ask,

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Or really maybe it wasn't so much that he'd worked up the nerve to ask, but that it slipped out before he could stop it.

His heart stutter steps in his chest for a minute as he realizes what he just said, or not so much what, but how he just said it. The unspoken hope that the answer would be "No" was pretty clear. The unspoken addendum to his question "or a boyfriend?" he'd managed to keep to himself.

"What?" Brad replies, confusion evident. Or maybe it was something else? Nervousness? No, Alex is definitely reading into nothing.

"I'm sorry, it probably wasn't my business..." Alex tries to pull himself back together, not give himself away. He just wants the conversation to move on before he says something that could ruin this budding friendship.

"No.... It's ok." Brad hesitates, "No, I don't have a girlfriend."

Alex nods.

"Oh."

"But... I um..." Brad starts to say, quietly, very quietly and almost involuntarily, before trailing off and clamming up. He's stiffened where he's sitting near Alex.

Alex's heart starts to flutter, he knows Brad is hoping Alex didn't hear him start speaking, but he did and now his interest is too peaked, he can't back down. He's standing on a precipice and there's no turning back,

"You what?"

We're Alex able to see he's sure Brad would be blushing right now, the nervous energy is rolling off him in waves. It's rolling off them both, they're on the very brink of something, and Alex can only hope it's something good.

Brad is quiet for a long time. When he finally does speak, it's soft, and as if it's taking every ounce of his courage to say it without wavering,

"I don't have a boyfriend either."

"Oh." Alex knows he needs to say something more, but his heart is pounding in his throat, it's too much, and then he feels Brad shift, about to get up.

"Umm, I've got to---"

"Stop!" Alex blurts out. Brad absolutely freezes, strung like a tense bowstring.

"I mean, wait, hold on, there's something I'd like to ask."

Brad doesn't say anything. He doesn't leave either, but he also doesn't untense.

Alex plows on, he can't stop now, Brad's already put himself out there, Alex can't leave him hanging, couldn't forgive himself if he did. He takes a deep breath before continuing,

"Is there... Is there anyone you'd like to be your boyfriend?... Or girlfriend."

"I um, I don't think there's really anyone ever that I'd, that I'd like to be my girlfriend. I'm just not, I just don't, that isn't my thing," Brad finishes quietly.

"But, but as a boyfriend? Is there someone?" Alex prompts after a moment.

"I, ah," Brad un-tenses, but not because he's relaxed, it's more of a "defeated" not quite slump he settles into across from Alex at this point.

"Yes," he finally says.

"Oh. Well. Okay. I suppose that's... Good."

"You're not... That's not a problem?" Brad sounds wary, defensive, like he did on that first day in Alex's house.

A short laugh escapes Alex, he feels Brad flinch a little, "No. No that's definitely not a problem," Alex says a bit sardonically.

Alex can feel Brad's questioning gaze on him so he continues, "it's not a problem unless you have a problem with it."

"What are you saying--"

"I like someone too."

"So?"

"I like a _boy_ too."

"Oh."

Brad sounds surprised, but more than that, he sounds... he sounds jealous? Maybe. No. He can't, why would he sound jealous? Alex's heart leaps even higher in his chest, lodging somewhere up towards his throat.

"Yeah."

"....who? Who is it?"

"Hey, you didn't tell me who you liked. You have to go first.”

“What? No. You go first.”

Alex sat there waiting. He could feel the nervous buzz spilling from Brad at this point, he was practically vibrating across from him. 

“Alright. Fine. I’ll tell you first, but you have to tell me too. And don’t laugh.” Brad finally said after a minute. He added on an even quieter, “And don’t hate me,” too, Alex wasn’t sure if he was meant to have even heard it. 

Brad takes a steadying breath, before letting his answer out all in the next breath, “I really, really like you, but I don’t want to ruin our friendship, so I was never going to say anything to you about it, and I hope that we can still be cool cuz I’ll probably get over it eventually.”

Alex swears he can feel his heart stop. It’s definitely lodged all the way in his throat now in any case. 

“Oh.”

Brad takes another breath and clears his throat again. 

_He’s waiting for me to say something more,_ Alex thinks. _Why can’t I say anything? Quick, tell him you feel the same way back. C’mon, you can do it. Just say something!_

“Oh. You like me.”

Brad shifts. 

“Yea. That’s what I just said.”

“Oh.”

They sit in silence for a minute, Brad’s nervous bounce returning in full force before he finally breaks the silence,

“It’s… It’s your turn.”

“Oh. Yeah.” A smile breaks out across Alex’s face. Brad’s bouncing stops when he catches sight of it and he can’t help but smile a little bit too, even though the nervousness about what he’s just admitted to his best friend is eating him alive. 

Alex continues, “I. It’s you; I like you.”

They’re both smiling now, full blown glowing things.

“Can I kiss you, Brad?”

“Yes,” Brad breathes out, leaning forward on his knees, gently, ever so gently, placing his left hand on Alex’s right cheek. 

Alex reaches up to mirror his hand on Brad’s cheek. He traces across his skin until he reaches Brad’s lips, gently brushing over them before letting his hand drop and leaning in to close the last bit of distance between them. 

They bump noses.

(Though really it’s more of a collision than a mere bump). 

Foreheads touching, they both let out a stream of nervous but excited giggling, the anticipation really starting to get the better of them. Brad reaches his other hand up to cup the other side of Alex’s face. Alex’s hands come back up to rest on Brad’s shoulders, thumbs laying across Brad’s collar bones. They lean in with smiles on their face, and their lips press together ever so gently in what hardly counts as a kiss (considering how hard they’re both smiling, it makes it kind of hard to kiss properly) but it’s nothing short of perfect. It’s a little clumsy, a little timid, and all kinds of aching for more. 

With soft breaths and gentle presses of ever searching, ever more persistent lips their trading of kisses slowly becomes deeper. They lose some of their initial sedateness, their initial hesitance and uncertainty, and it quickly grows into boldness--a quick flick of the tongue against soft lips added in a particularly daring moment, which is then met with a gentle nibble along a bottom lip. Alex presses harder against Brad, leaning farther against him. Their bodies line up and slot into place as Alex keeps pressing Brad back farther, until eventually they’re laying on the grass with Alex on top of Brad, their kisses deepening and lengthening with each subsequent one. 

Alex lets out a gentle moan and presses more insistently against Brad with his lips and his body. Brad bucks a little into Alex’s body as well; when they press together just so at the groin and Alex starts a gentle circular motion with his hips, Brad lets out a soft whimper--one he’d never admit to making. His hands have migrated up to tangle into Alex’s hair, and he tugs slightly, pulling Alex back. 

“I can’t believe--”

“Yea.”

“This is so.. it’s so..”

“It’s so good.”

“I’m going to kiss you again.”

“ _Yes_.”

Brad guides Alex into another kiss. It isn’t long before Alex’s mouth starts to wander and brush across Brad’s cheek, down across his jawline, eventually making it to the juncture of his jaw and throat where he starts to suck a bruise onto Brad’s skin. Brad arches off the ground, hands scrabbling, alternating between tugging a bit at Alex’s hair, to clutching it harder and pulling him farther into his ministrations. 

Of course, that’s how Julie finds them, pressed together in the grass, making each other more and more disheveled than any run could possibly get them.

“Hey guys--whoa!”

At Julie’s voice the two boys pull apart several inches, Alex tucking his head in between Brad’s neck and shoulder and groaning. Brad laughs a little and pets Alex’s hair, very gently, but admittedly he’s about as pink as a strawberry at having been caught. 

Julie smirks.

“Finally!”

At her exclamation the two boys properly separate and come into seated positions. They tangle their hands together, however, and lean into each other’s sides a little bit, too reluctant to put any more distance between themselves than necessary. 

“Alright you two _lovebirds_ , grab your stuff, we have to get to school before first bell.”

“...But that’s not for another half an hour…” Brad mumbles petulantly. 

“Well _yea_ ,” Julie says, “but we’ve gotta with enough extra time to watch people’s _reactions_ to this development!” Alex turns a bit to rest his forehead on Brad’s shoulder in defeat over his best friend’s over enthusiasm. “People are gonna _flip_. I can’t believe you guys actually got your shit together! This is awesome!... Wait, are you guys gonna be out, or are you gonna keep it on the down low… Cuz I don’t want you to think I’m gonna force you out or something,” she trails off as Alex and Brad hold a muttered exchange. 

“We’re not gonna hide anything,” Alex tells Julie.

“Besides, I’m pretty sure more than a few people already thought something was up between us…. looking back on it now…” Brad adds. 

“ _Yea_ , oh yea,” Julie’s usual enthusiastic bounce is back as she continues on, “Seriously, everyone is going to freak out that you guys got your act together, it’s gonna be _great_.” 

As she continues to speak, Julie bounces her way back the way she came, towards the school. After a moment, realizing the boys haven’t moved, she directs back at them a, “Come _on_ you guys, we’ve gotta go!”

The boys groan and start getting to their feet, hands never unclasping. 

It’s going to be a long rest of the year. 

(But it’ll be a very, very happy year, worth every moment.)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at [toosmallortootall](http://toosmallortootall.tumblr.com)


End file.
